coverage of nelson mandela's memorial service. i'm anderson cooper and i'm joined by robin curnow and christiane amanpour. we have a speaker here but it is hard for the people to hear what he is saying. >> they have come to sing and dance and this is a politician who is going to be missed. some have said for the first time in recorded history, a political leader is going to be missed and i think it's really important to state over and over again that he was elected and he stepped down. >> that san extraordinary thing. >> so many african and east asian leaders do not. he gave an example of what democracy is and how you have to have a peaceful, you know, rollover of democracy. >> he could have easily stayed for a second term. >> he didn't want to. >> but he turned things over to thabo mbeki. it wasn't what he wanted but the party of power wanted. >> he had a deep sense of timing and he knew it would give such a great message to africa and the world. he knew when it was over, it was over. >> by the way, we have neglected to say today